Livestrong Erin

A prayer for Erin
By Sonny Pasimio
Inquirer
Last updated 02:23am (Mla time) 08/12/2006
Published on Page A11 of the August 12, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

I SIT in bed tonight, watching Ria and our 2-month-old daughter Erin sleep side by side. Only a few things in the world are as breathtaking as this. It’s still the biggest thrill for me: watching my two girls huddled close together in their matching blankets. In a few hours, our roles will be reversed. They will lie awake for their feeding session, while I try to catch some sleep under the sheets.

We spent the whole day today at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital, where our little Erin had to go through a HIDA scan to rule out biliary atresia (BA), a condition where the bile ducts don’t function and so bile is not flushed out of the body. It is a serious and life-threatening condition, to say the least. The only way to “cure” it is via the KASAI procedure, where the ducts are bypassed and the liver is connected directly to the small intestines. I put “cure” between quotation marks because the procedure provides transitory relief rather than the solution. It prevents further damage to the liver. It buys us a bit more time to raise funds and find a matching liver donor.

Well, the ruling out didn’t happen. The good news is there wasn’t any “ruling in” either -- not yet. All that we know now is that there is indeed an obstruction in Erin’s ducts that prevents the bile from flowing out. Whether it’s biliary atresia or not, our little angel will have to undergo surgery right away.

I don’t know how I can begin to measure the pain that my wife and I are feeling at the moment. Imagining our daughter, a fragile infant, going under the knife is just unthinkable. Every night, we spend countless minutes chasing down that last mosquito in the room just to make sure it doesn’t bite our baby. Ria becomes completely oblivious of our tight monthly budget by letting the air-conditioning unit run 24 hours just so Erin doesn’t get rashes. Unthinkable. But we know that with God’s blessing, we will survive this pain, and maybe emerge from it stronger.

We are a ball of mixed emotions right now. We bounce from fear to pain, to sorrow, to guilt, to denial and then to fear again. In spite of this, we are sustained by hope. Somehow, we know that the Lord will lead us gently through it all.
After the initial “why us?” (biliary artesia strikes one in every 15,000 live births), we began to persuade ourselves that there must be a reason why the Lord allowed this to happen. Beneath the fear and anxiety, we feel humbled, knowing that Erin has been singled out by God to serve a greater cause. Yes, our baby must be truly special.

At her very young age, Erin has already touched hundreds of lives, and she continues to do so by the minute. Text messages have been pouring nonstop from friends, acquaintances and even strangers, rallying around this little infant and cheering her on. Our families have never been closer and more united in prayer. Petty differences are, all of a sudden, forgotten and, more importantly, forgiven.

Even the doctors treating her, who I assume are trained not to show emotion, never fail to be touched by her smile and by her innocent stare, and they walk away with softer hearts.

Our officemates have bonded together, doing their best to pitch in and support us in every way possible. They have started a “Livestrong Erin” movement to raise funds for our little one.

The following link will take you to INQ7.net for the FULL article.

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i read this in one of my e-groups, i hope you will also be moved by it and take the time to support this cause either by
...buying Baller IDs (this may be picked up at Nestle office in Rockwell or Powerplant Mall)
...posting it in your respective blogs
...emailing it to friends
...telling someone about it
...or get creative! i'm sure you can find some way to help. Ü

for Fundraising...you may want to get in touch with the following people...
Jay Paredes (0917) 5300041
Mark Francisco (0920) 9046432
Hope Namoca (0920) 9241279
Roderick Labanguis (0917) 8735386


"Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead